Page 54 of Red Hot Harmony

“It’ll be fine.”

When we pulled into Camille’s driveway, Harper was lingering on the porch and looking both happy yet uneasy.

We stepped out of the vehicle and I leaned against the warm metal body of the car, pulled her close, and asked, “When can I see you again?”

She stood in the circle of my arms, paparazzi be damned. There was no point in hiding or keeping it a secret anymore. Besides, I wanted the entire world to know I was taken, and the woman who owned me was sweet, caring, and beautiful.

“Well, if Ally’s better, we can still do a lesson on Tuesday.” Camille drew a deep breath and brushed my unshaven cheek with her index finger.

“That’s not what I mean.” I nuzzled her, inhaled her scent, memorized it.

“I have a lot of work to catch up on since I kinda fell behind this week, but maybe we can grab dinner in a few days.”

“That’s also not quite what I mean,” I whispered in her ear, making sure there were enough seductive undertones in my voice.

“I haven’t thought about...how this will work...yet.” She seemed distracted.

Now I sort of understood the difficulties of dating with a teenager in the picture. “Maybe we can talk about it, say Wednesday? I can pick you up at seven.”

“Sure.”

“Hey, kids, I hate to break it to you,” Harper yelled from the porch. “But I really need to get going. There’s a minor situation at the boutique.”

At that, Camille spun around and shot him a glare, one I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of.

“It’s nothing that requires your involvement, sweets,” he added to reassure her.

“Okay. I gotta go do all those boring grown-up things now.” She quirked a brow and cupped my face. “You know, feed my kid, pay my bills, clean my back yard.”

I laughed softly and she pressed her lips to mine for a brief second, then turned and rushed into the house.

Snowflake was all over me when I got home. He jumped and licked and barked, and I was pretty much emotionally blackmailed into hugging him to my chest and not letting him down for a very long time.

We sat in the lounge chair on my terrace and stared at the sky until it became positively gray.

There was this smell in the air again, pungent and stifling. Not quite strong but definitive enough for me to know that whatever was burning was closer than I thought.

A call from Frank came in later that afternoon when I was in my music room, fiddling with one of my Strats.

I typically didn’t carry my phone with me at all times, but earlier, I’d send a text to Camille since I was just discovering I was indeedthatclingy, and we were currently engaged in a deep conversation about superhero movies.

“Hey, are you all right, man?” Frank asked, somehow managing to sound genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I was good. I was better than good. I was wonderful. I had the best woman in the world. I’d hit the fucking jackpot.

Okay, perhaps that was all the sugar talking. I’d had a dozen lollipops, mainly because it was either that or something else, something a lot more destructive.

“I just saw the news,” Frank explained. “The fire.”

I exited the music room and looked out the window.

The sun was hovering right above the horizon. The days were shorter now and the nights had become fresher, but the heat still lingered. I felt it in my bones, which was new to me, because in my past life, I’d hardly spent any time here in the summer or the fall or in general.

I’d been globe-trotting and breaking hearts.

And in this moment, as I drank in the rolling hills that became distant mountaintops, currently obscured by the thick smog, I realized I’d never really appreciated what I had. The house, the land, the privacy, the nice weather.

It was almost like an epiphany.

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